Welcome to the modern NBA: Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton should shoot 3’s

Brook Lopez and Karl-Anthony Towns Phoenix Suns (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)

A few centers do find tremendous success from the outside

The creme of the crop stretch-fives though are truly great at their craft, and if Deandre Ayton can actually make it to their level of outside proficiency – watch out.

Last season, former 3-point shooting brick layer Brook Lopez led the Milwaukee Bucks in both 3-pointers made and attempted, totaling 187-512. While his impressive 36.5% from outside did not lead the team, he did finish fourth behind only Malcolm Brogdon, Tony Snell, and Khris Middleton.

The gem of all outside shooting centers, however, is of course Karl-Anthony Towns, who not only led the Minnesota Timberwolves in makes and attempts (142-355) in 2018-19, but also percentage at 40.0%.

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Dario Saric finished third for the ‘Wolves in the shooting categories, and second behind Towns draining 38.3%.

Of the four stretch-fives mentioned, only Towns’ Timberwolves had a losing record – although there is also no doubt that from top-to-bottom, Minnesota also had the weakest roster of the four, so his individual play (and certainly his shooting), are hardly to blame.

The question of who might Deandre Ayton potentially fall closest to in individual shooting statistics is, at this point, largely left up to speculation.

There really has been no media reporting on how hard his has been working on his outside shot and whether or not his statement came from a place of cockiness, or confidence.

We do not yet know if it truly was a guarantee based on a combination of his efforts and his new head coach’s blessing.

Any great expectations, however, should be tempered at least, as it is not like Ayton also has a vast 3-point shooting experience. While he only took a total of four last season (making none), he only attempted 35 in 35 games for the University of Arizona, making 12.

Sure, his college numbers show that he can shoot from the outside in a game setting, but it does not in-and-of-itself mean that he should actually attempt to become a more prolific outside shooter.